A short course in English grammar online. Basic rules of English grammar

We present to you the first article in the “Grammar” series in English for beginners". In this series of materials, we decided to present all the rules briefly and in simple words, so that beginners “from scratch” or those who do not remember the basics of English well can independently figure out the grammar, understand it and apply it in practice.

Plural in English

In English, as in Russian, all words are divided into countable and uncountable. This is important to understand when forming the plural of a word. Countable nouns denote those objects that can be counted, for example: table (table), book (book), apple (apple). Uncountable nouns- these are abstract concepts, liquids, products, etc., that is, something that cannot be counted. For example: knowledge, water, meat, flour. These words have no plural or singular.

Countable nouns can be used in singular or plural. noun in singular denotes one object, this is the form of the word that is indicated in the dictionary: apple - apple. A plural noun denotes several objects: apples - apples.

How is it formed plural nouns:

Usually the plural of nouns is formed by adding the ending -s to the word: book – books (book – books). However, there are several spelling features:

• If the word ends in -o, -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, then add the ending -es: hero – heroes (hero – heroes), bus – buses (bus – buses).

  Exceptions: photo - photos (photo - photographs), video - videos (video recording - video recordings), radio - radios (radio - several radios), rhino - rhinos (rhino - rhinoceroses), piano - pianos (piano - several pianos), hippo - hippos (hippopotamus - hippopotamuses).

• If the word ends in -f, -fe, then change the ending to -ves: knife – knives, leaf – leaves, wife – wives.

  Exceptions: roof - roofs (roof - roofs), giraffe - giraffes (giraffe - giraffes), cliff - cliffs (cliff - cliffs).

• If a word ends in -y, preceded by a consonant, then we change -y to -ies: body – bodies (body – bodies).
• If the word ends in -y, preceded by a vowel, then add the ending -s: boy – boys (boy – boys).

In English there is also exception words, which form the plural irregularly. You just need to learn such words by heart; fortunately, there are not very many of them.

Try our test to see how well you have understood the material.

English Plural Noun Test

Articles in English

There are two types of articles in English: definite and indefinite. They are not translated into Russian. In the vast majority of cases, one of these articles must be placed before a singular noun.

Not definite article a/an is used only with singular countable nouns: a girl, a pen. If a word begins with a consonant sound, we write the article a (a girl), and if the word begins with a vowel sound, we write the article an (an apple).

The indefinite article a/an is used in the following cases:

• We name any indefinite object, and we have only one, which is why we use the article a, which comes from the word one (one):

  It is a book. - This is a book.

• We mention the subject for the first time in speech:

  I see a shop. - I see (some, one of many) store.

• We talk about a person’s profession or indicate his belonging to a certain group:

  He is a teacher. - He is a teacher.
  She is a student. - She is a student.

Definite article the we bet when we're talking about about a specific subject familiar to us. This article can appear before a singular or plural noun.

The definite article the is used in the following cases:

• We have already mentioned the subject earlier in our speech:

  I see a shop. The shop is big. - I see a store. (This) The store is big.

  It is believed that the definite article comes from the word that (that), therefore it is intended to indicate some specific object familiar to the interlocutors.

• We are talking about an object that in this context is one of a kind and cannot be confused with something else:

  Honey, I'm washing the car. - Honey, I'm washing the car. (the family has one car, so we are talking about a specific item)
  Look at the girl in the red dress - Look at the girl in the red dress. (we point to a specific girl in a specific dress)

• We are talking about a one-of-a-kind object, there is no other like it: the sun, the moon, the world, the President of France, etc.:

  The earth is our home. - Earth is our home.

Verb to be

There is always a verb in an English sentence. And if in Russian we can say “I am a doctor”, “Mary is beautiful”, “We are in the hospital”, then in English this is unacceptable: in all these cases the verb to be must appear after the subject. Therefore, you can remember a simple rule: if there are no ordinary verbs in a sentence, then the verb to be is needed.

The verb to be has three forms:

• Am is added to the pronoun I when we talk about ourselves:

  I am beautiful. - I am beautiful.

• Is is placed after the pronouns he, she, it:

  She is beautiful. - She's beautiful.

• Are is used after you, we, they:

  You are beautiful. - You are handsome.

The verb to be in English is most often used in the following cases:

• We inform you that by whom is a person (name, profession, etc.):

  I am a doctor. - I am doctor.

• We inform you that what a person or thing has a quality:

  Mary is beautiful. - Mary is beautiful.

• We inform you that Where there is a person or object:

  We are at the hospital. - We're in the hospital.

Sentences with the verb to be in the present tense are constructed as follows:

We think you are now ready to take the test and test your knowledge.

Test for the use of the verb to be

Present Continuous Tense - present continuous tense

Present Continuous Tense most often shows that the action takes place in this moment.

Every English sentence has a subject and a predicate. In the Present Continuous the predicate consists of the auxiliary verb to be in in the required form(am, is, are) and the main verb without the particle to, to which we add -ing ending(playing, reading).

She is playing tennis now. - She is now plays to tennis.
I am reading a novel at the moment. - I'm currently I'm reading novel.

The verb to be in this tense is an auxiliary verb, that is, it is a word that comes before the main verb (playing, reading) and helps to form tense. you will meet auxiliary verbs and in other tenses, this type of verb includes to be (am, is, are), do/does, have/has, will.

Please note the following tense words Present Continuous: now (now), at the moment (at the moment), today (today), tonight (tonight), these days (these days), currently (these days), at present (currently), still (still).

Affirmative sentences in the Present Continuous are formed as follows:

Usually in this tense you just need to add the ending -ing to the main verb: walk – walking (walk), look – looking (look). But some verbs change like this:

• If the verb ends in -e, we remove the -e and add -ing: write – writing, dance – dancing.

  Exception: see – seeing (to see).

• If the verb ends in -ie, we change -ie to -y and add -ing: lie – lying (lie), die – dying (die).
• If the verb ends with a stressed syllable with a short vowel that occurs between two consonants, the final consonant is doubled by adding -ing: begin – beginning (begin), swim – swimming (swim).

IN negative sentences in the Present Continuous you just need to insert the particle not between to be and the main verb.

She isn't cooking at the moment. - At the moment she doesn't cook.
You are not listening to me now. - You don't listen me now.

IN interrogative sentences in the Present Continuous you need to put the verb to be in the first place, and after it put the subject and main verb.

Is she cooking at the moment? - She trains At the moment?
Are you listening to me now? - You me now are you listening?

Now we suggest you take a test on the use of Present Continuous tense.

Test for use of Present Continuous

We have presented you with the first 5 basic topics of the English language. Now your task is to thoroughly understand them and work through them as productively as possible with the help of exercises. In order not to burden you with a large amount of grammar at once, we will release the next article in this series in a few weeks. Subscribe to our newsletter, then you definitely won't miss out important information. We wish you success in learning English!

Learning any language requires familiarity with grammar. Without it, it is impossible to correctly express thoughts by constructing sentences. Grammar includes within its boundaries important sections of language: morphology and syntax. If you miss this point from the training program, then you can forget about serious achievements in the field of language. This applies to both the written and oral parts. Don’t forget: achieving your goal depends on motivation.

It is worth noting that English grammar online will allow you to independently study structure, as well as focus on the ability to create sentences from words. This involves working at different levels of complexity. Therefore, you can progress on your own.

English grammar

You can't do without grammar!

So, let's consider those points related to the study of the grammatical structure of the English language. To put it more clearly, let's analyze the advantages of having proper grammar.

1. Speech understanding. How will the interlocutor understand us if we cannot formulate the thought correctly? In order not to be unfounded, we will give an example. I buy dress. What is this? The translation is: “I’m going to buy a dress.” It is unclear when this will happen. And many nuances of meaning are simply missing. Let's change the proposal a little. I want to buy a dress. Everything is clear here, because the translation is: “I want to buy a dress.” As you can see, the first point of the reasons why you should learn grammar is obvious. This is perhaps the most important factor.
2. The speech is not just competent, but also beautiful; This is the magic of influencing your interlocutor. And this is important both in work and in personal life. A person who has the art of oratory is able to achieve cherished goals. He attracts other people. And this is extremely important in our information age, where the ability to speak occupies a key position. Don't forget that online English grammar will allow you to constantly practice. This is important on the path to language acquisition. The English language is cunning in that, despite its relative simplicity, it requires constant honing of skills. Otherwise, all your efforts will be in vain. A system is required. When learning new things, it is important to repeat the old ones; then the positive effect will not take long to arrive. When learning any language, it is important to maintain such continuity: new things are learned, and old things are repeated.

Debunking the myth

Some readers will wonder why English did not give the desired results at school. After all, so many years are devoted to studying grammar! But at school there is little communication in this language. Hence the ineffectiveness. But if there is constant communication, then studying grammar will become a good basis for progression. The theory will become clear in practice. Therefore, it is important to speak up. If there are no people nearby who can speak English to you, then speak to yourself. Yes, it's a little strange, but it's also practice.

English grammar for beginners seems overwhelming. Articles, pronouns, verbs - the English language has a huge number of rules that are not so easy to transfer to Russian. This raises doubts: is it worth starting at all? Is it worth diving into English grammar without some confidence that you can master it? No, with such an attitude, you will definitely not be able to swim far in your study. Therefore, it is important to discard all doubts and stereotypes. Believe me, English grammar can be studied independently and in the most short time. All you need is consistency and perseverance, and we will help you with everything else.

First, let's figure out what the grammar of this language is. The English grammar or English grammar is a set of all rules that relate to prepositions, prefixes, parts of speech, types English verbs and their times, members of the sentence and so on.

In simple words, everything that is in the English language is its grammar. Respectively, frequently asked question about how to learn grammar , has a very simple answer: to learn English grammar, you just need to learn the language. Of course, it will not be possible to analyze all the nuances in one article. Why, even books that promise to show you the entire grammar of the English language from scratch with exercises, in fact, will never tell you about the entire grammar. Therefore, we have collected only the most basic rules that are best suited for beginners.

How can you learn English grammar without even knowing the rules of pronunciation? Let's start with them. The rules for reading letters in English is a fairly broad topic, since when certain combination their pronunciation may vary. However, let's not go too deep and consider the standard pronunciation of letters, of which, by the way, there are 26 in English. When mastering the topic of pronunciation, special attention is paid to transcription, which, as a rule, is indicated in square brackets:

English Grammar: Articles

When studying English grammar, a lot of confusion may arise with, since they have no analogues in Russian. Articles are usually used with nouns to show whether we are talking about a specific object (that bag) or an indefinite one (a person). There are 3 types of articles:

1. Zero article or its absence:

1. The indefinite article a/an is used when you are not paying attention to a specific thing, but are simply talking about the subject in general. The indefinite article is also used when you first mention something to someone:

Note that if the noun or adjective that describes it begins with a consonant, the article “a” is used, and if it begins with a vowel, “an” is used.

1. The definite article the, expressing specific objects:

They occur constantly in speech, so be sure to remember.

Nouns in English grammar

English grammar from scratch very often begins with nouns. Perhaps this is because nouns in English have a lot in common with Russian ones. For example:

• they are also divided into proper and common nouns:

• can change in number, forming the plural using the ending -s (-es):

• have cases, although their number is limited to only two:

• perform the roles of all members of the sentence, examples:

The difference is that, unlike the Russian language, English nouns do not change by gender. Only pronouns have it.

English Grammar: Pronouns

Pronouns in English are divided into 9 subgroups, but the most popular are rightfully personal pronouns. They change according to cases, tenses and numbers:

English Grammar: Verbs

The verb in English is perhaps the main part of speech. It can be personal and impersonal. Personal verbs include those verbs that are used with all persons and in all tenses. They can be used in both active and passive voices:

Impersonal ones include the gerund, infinitive and participle:

Both regular and irregular verbs have 3 forms. The correct ones are formed as follows:

Irregular ones have 3 individual forms that need to be memorized, for example:

It is necessary to know all these forms, since with their help the formation of tense verb forms occurs.

In addition, verbs have three moods:

Particular attention should be paid to modal verbs. Modal verbs- These are verbs that are not used independently. They are necessary to show the speaker’s attitude towards some action. Some of the most commonly used modal verbs are:

English Grammar: Adjectives

An adjective in English denotes an attribute of an object and answers the questions “which?” and “whose?” In simple words, it is used to describe objects and persons. According to their structure, adjectives are divided into 3 groups:

These and other adjectives can be used in 3 degrees of comparison:

English Grammar: Adverbs

The descriptive function is also characteristic of adverbs, which are responsible for expressing a characteristic of an action. It comes in several types:

They can also have degrees of comparison:

English Grammar: Numerals

Numerals, as in Russian, are quantitative and ordinal:

With the exception of the first 3 digits, the remaining ordinal numbers are formed with -th (-eth). In English ordinal numbers can be written using a number and the last two letters of the ending: second - 2nd, ninth - 9th, sixteenth - 16th and so on.

English Grammar: Interjections

It is impossible not to note the independent part of speech, the use of which helps to convey emotions and one’s feelings, namely interjections. They can be divided into 3 groups:

Functional parts of speech

Functional parts of speech in English grammar are used quite often. Let's look at some of them:

• Conjunctions connect the members of the sentence, as well as simple sentences as part of a complex By structure they are divided into:

According to their functions, they are divided into coordinating and subordinating:

• Prepositions are used no less often than conjunctions. According to their structure, they are divided into exactly the same groups:

In addition to their main purpose, prepositions are always used with the following verbs:

• Another useful part of speech is particles. There are 5 types of particles in English:

English Grammar: Word Order in a Sentence

Sentences in English are affirmative, negative and interrogative. They are built as follows:

Based on these tables, sentences are drawn up at any time.

English Grammar: Tenses

There are 12 tense forms in English. They are formed using 3 tenses and 4 tense forms:

Knowing these forms, you can form any sentences.

English Grammar: Types of Sentences

By the way, about proposals. As in Russian, English sentences are divided into simple and complex. Complex ones are divided into complex and complex.

It is worth noting that, despite the fact that most sentences in English are complete, it is permissible to use incomplete sentences. As a rule, this option is used in colloquial speech, so this is rather a practical grammar of the English language:

These were the basic rules of grammar. Of course, it is unfortunately impossible to fit all the material here. However, knowing at least the mentioned rules of the English language, you will already feel quite confident during a conversation. As for conversations. A collection of English exercises or another version of descriptive information is, of course, good. However, believe me, practical English grammar cannot be compared with anything in its effectiveness. Language learners can learn much more by communicating than by sitting in front of a book. Therefore, do not hesitate to communicate with native speakers.

The ProLingvo course outlines those basic rules English grammar that will allow understand immediately a lot: up to 90% of communication in any language occurs using only a small number of function words and a very small number of constructions.

Beginners will be able to quickly get acquainted with basic rules , make sure, thanks to the simulator exercises, that you correctly understand the rules, read and listen a lot in order to develop vocabulary and speak faster.

No need to cram the rules! The rules are given for informational purposes only, but what is important is to quickly move on to working with texts. You will quickly recognize what will appear in texts, you will easily remember, and then speak.

Features of English grammar

• The main difference between the grammar of English and Russian is words don't change endings : nouns and adjectives are not inflected (i.e. you don’t have to cram word forms: " bus", "bus", "by bus"..., in English only bus), verbs do not change according to person ("I take", "you take", "we take", "take"..., in English only take and only in the ending -s appears: she take s ).
• The same word in English can be a verb, a noun, an adjective, i.e. denote an action, an object, a characteristic of an object. Therefore, it is more important to pay attention to:
  • a) the role of function words (which we saw in the example);
  • b) the position of the word relative to other words.
  Don’t be afraid to get confused - it’s just a matter of practice, and training exercises ProLingvo aim to help acquire the necessary skills.

Endings

It is the endings that you should pay special attention to at first.

The letter -s will appear most often:

• it shows the plural of nouns
  • table (table- [table])
  • tables (tables- [tables])
• appears on verbs in the third person singular. ( he she it)
  • I like it(I like it- [ah like it])
  • he likes it (he likes it- [ay likes it])

*There are some features to reading a number of endings that beginners will become familiar with as they progress through our online course.

Verbs can have forms with the following endings:

• -ed: added to a verb to form the past tense
  • I liked it(I liked it- [ I like t it ])
• -ing: is added to a verb and in this form it participates in the formation of a number of tenses, and this verb can also be translated into a noun (we will look at this in due course).

Function words

Meaningful words change little. But the meaning of the phrase can change greatly from the use or non-use of grammatically important function words. It is on service words that we focus in introductory course English grammar. You can use the dictionary without our help, although our wonderful exercises and recommendations will make it easier for you to memorize words.

Pronouns

In the initial course we spend a lot of time. Your task is to learn to recognize and correctly use pronouns (to develop automaticity in their use, as in the Russian language we do not think about which pronoun to choose: I, to me, me, my...).

Prepositions

The most important element of English grammar: in English, words do not change by case, but case relations exist, and they are conveyed by prepositions. Don't try to memorize prepositions. There is only one recipe - do not forget to work with texts (we will talk about this more than once and on the site you will be offered effective exercises with them).

Article

Can present some difficulty for beginners article- a grammatical category that does not exist in the Russian language. You can “feel” the article only through reading and extensive conversational practice. Therefore, be careful and have a little patience.

Tenses and verb conjugations

How can you convey without grammar that an event is not happening now, but in the past or future? I must say that tense system in the English language is very developed and represents one of the complex sections of English grammar. Learn to see and “feel” verbs, their place in a sentence in the present tense, so that later it will be easy for you to understand the meaning of English tenses, which can be summarized in (to understand the table it is important to be able to conjugate the verbs to be and to have).

To simplify, the verb conjugation will be reduced to the combination of the verb to be (be) And to have (have) + verb form, of which there are few (something like a constructor from a limited number of elements).

Understand English grammar as a designer: master the cubes, elements, and then with their help you can convey the most intricate meanings.

Imagine that you need to start something completely new to you right now. For example, driving a car, baking pies for the first time, giving a newborn a bath. Where do you start? Options:

1. I’ll take it and do it, what’s the problem.
2. First, I’ll read on the Internet or in books how to do it.
3. Call a friend who is experienced in this matter.
4. Help from the audience (I’ll ask someone else).
5. Learn from a professional.
6. I won't do it.

The option you choose characterizes you very clearly. When it comes to English grammar, depending on which method you chose above, the following is expected:

1. Bugaga (the teachers and English people who heard you speak in English are laughing).
2. Adding patience and time to this, you will learn all the rules on your own.
3. Add to this the patience of a friend and his time, under his guidance you will learn all the rules.
4. You won't learn anything, but you will listen to how others do it.
5. Add money to this and you will learn all the rules.
6. You will be able to ski, meet friends in a cafe, sleep, eat - in general, life is good.

As you can see, to understand English grammar, you need, in theory, only three things: a source of rules, time and patience. The first is offered to you in these articles, but you will have to deal with the other two components on your own.

Thus, we give you a fishing rod, and you will catch the fish yourself. What is the beauty of our fishing rod? The fact is that it is light, convenient and easy to use. We will not load you with scary grammar terms, torment you with long lists, flickering arrows, A4 diagrams and other tricks that scare some English teachers.

There is nothing particularly complex about English grammar, unlike many other European languages ​​(not to mention Eastern and African). You can simply read these articles like a fiction book. Even if you master the minimum, at the finish line you will find that you master most of the rules that previously seemed overwhelming.

As an example, let's do something already in the introductory part. What does speech consist of? From phrases. What does the phrase consist of? From the proposals. What does the proposal consist of? Stop! Let’s clarify: what does it consist of? ENGLISH sentence? Subject and predicate. Usually this is a noun and a verb (just don’t say that you don’t remember these words): the dog is running, the passer-by is screaming, the dog is barking, the owner is yelling. True, a noun can be successfully replaced by a pronoun: she runs, you scream, she barks, I yell.

You have just listened to a news briefing lecture on parts of speech. What do you remember? At a minimum, the words “noun” and “verb” for you are already associated with grammar, and not with cooking or construction work. And for now you don’t need more. Are you ready to continue at the same pace?

Follow me (follow me).

Parts of speech:

1. Numerals(The Numeral)
1.1 Cardinal and ordinal numbers
2. Pronouns(The Pronoun)
2.1 Personal and possessive pronouns
2.2 Demonstrative and negative pronouns
2.3 Indefinite and reflexive pronouns

5. Adjective(The Adjective)
5.1 Degrees of comparison of adjectives

7. Noun(The Noun)
7.1 Noun in English. Classification of nouns

8. Verb(The Verb)
8.1 Verbs in English. General information about verbs
8.2 Regular and irregular English verbs
8.3 Semantic and auxiliary verbs
8.4 Modals and linking verbs